Teathered blue boatby
kari1Comment by livitup: Greetings from the Critique Club!
First Impression - the most important one: Poor Post Processing Killed The Shot!
Composition: The composition of this photo is very good. I like the strong diagonal lines drawing the eye towards the center of the frame. I also like the fact that the boat is cut off where it is. There is enough of the boat to make it recognizible as such, but the tight shot and tight crop allow one to take in more detail of the environment. The only nit to pick with your composition is the grassy bank in the background left corner. It doesn't add anyting to the shot and only distracts the eye. Maybe if you had moved around a little bit, or elevated the camera a bit more and shot down a little bit more you could have gotten rid of it. Worst case, I think you probably could have cloned it out without running afoul of the "major elements" rule, but I'm not sure.
Subject: It is interesting. Not spellbinding, but interesting enough. The boat itself has strong color that draws the eye into the photo. The small strip of yellow is a complimentary color that is also pleasing. However, it is in the end a static subject, so it's not going to be horribly exciting. In such cases it is up to you, the photographer to create excitement in this scene. How do you do that? Keep reading... :)
Technical (Colour and light): Here's where I think you blew your chance. As every commenter noted, this photo is indeed over processed. The wood chips, in particular, belile the excessive sharpening that you used. In addition, you've got loss of detail in both highlights (bottom right corner of the boat) and in the shadows (grasses, leaves, wood chips under the boat and around the chain). In addition the entire photo seems washed out and lacks contrast.
To grow its vote?: Post processing. A simple levels adjustment (or a more complex curves adjustment, if you know how) would clear the blown out highlights. Photoshop's "Shadows and Highlights" filter does wonders, if you use Photoshop. Less sharpening.
A final, non-photoshop suggestion. This photo looks like it was taken under very harsh lighting conditions, probably between about 11:00 am and 3:00 pm. Photographers call the hour after sunrise and the hour after sunset the "golden hour" because the sunlight is just that, golden. I think that if you were to return to this scene at one of those times you would be able to see the difference with your eyes, before you even raised the camera.
Summary: Remebember, that in static shots it is up to the photographer to create emotion. Careful use of lighting can go a long way towards that goal. Watch the sharpening in the future and I think you'll do much better.
Critique the Critique: A lot of effort goes into writing these critiques and I would appreciate feedback on how I'm doing. Do my comments make sense? Am I on track or way off base? Do my comments make you want to pick up a meat cleaver? Please let me know via a PM if you found these comments helpful, or not so much so.
Thanks!
---A
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